Small Wonders of Latin America – Global Test Photo Essay

Introduction

As soon as I fall into my hiking stride, I enter a state of rhythmic and peaceful calm. I am only half aware of the nature that surrounds me, the texture of the trail changing underfoot, and the tempo of my inhalations. All I can sense is tranquility.

Rarely do I think about taking photos while hiking. No photo has ever been able to fully capture the joy I experience in nature. Photographs, however beautiful they might be of the landscape, fail to arouse the overwhelmingly positive sensory assault I have while hiking.

When I look back at photos taken during backcountry trips, my memories of the events are colored. Instead of recalling a variety of feelings and views, sounds and smells, my vibrant memories get intertwined with these static snapshots.

How I manage to backpack with Danny is somewhat of a mystery. His feeling about photography couldn’t be more opposite than mine. He is constantly breaking his stride to take photos, often asking me to stop with him and sometimes even pose. He can spend days organizing and editing photos once we return to civilization. Danny loves the wilderness just as much as I do, but also finds great joy in sharing our adventures with our friends and families.

Fifteen countries and more than a year later, I am grateful that Danny has encouraged me to be more open about photography. We have simply seen too much and experienced too much to store it all away in our fallible human memories. Every day of traveling is different, and the lack of monotony in daily life means we have little downtime to think, process, and store.

The photo collection below is a but a tiny sample of the many small wonders we saw during our nine months backpacking around Latin and South America. I am happy that Danny encouraged me to stop and examine the petite beauty contained on a continent that I might not ever visit again. I even admit, I might have taken one or two of the photos myself.

Sorry to be a bother but… the right-click->properties thing only shows the image size, no other info, on both IE and Firefox (the Firefox equivilant is "View Image Info") on PC.
Unless I'm doing something wrong?

Thanks for posting that link about the assassin bug Kristin. As I looked at the page, I thought Wow that looks really familiar and when I read Hillary's request I couldn't stop chuckling. How nice to have a world-wide support system that gives you quick answers!!!

The assassin bug is also commonly called a Kissing bug. One thing I didn't see mentioned on the link is that they can be a vector for Chagas disease, one of the most widespread and devastating infectious diseases in Central and South America.

You might laugh, or cry. But the camera I used is the Panasonic TS1. It's Panasonic's first waterproof/crushproof/dustproof camera that I bought in June 2009. My tripod is the Joby Gorillapod. And the only additional equipment I have is a second battery.